“My departure from PWD won’t affect Barak Valley’s development,” Minister Parimal Suklabaidya

Since the State ministry expansion (which concluded last month), Barak Valley has been fuming; particularly because of Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal’s decision to take away PWD ministry from Parimal Suklabaidya’s portfolio. Today, Dholai MLA and the new Environment and Forest Minister of Assam, Suklabaidya, addressed a gathering at BJPs Itkhola office in Silchar. Top BJP leadership of Cachar district, Kabindra Purkayastha, Mihir Kanti Shome, Nitya Bhushan Dey, were present among others.

Suklabaidya started his speech by thanking the district party leadership and members, present journalists, and other representatives of various organisations. He credited all his achievements to the people of his constituency Dholai, and the entire Barak Valley. Addressing the growing concern in Barak Valley, he said, “My departure from the PWD ministry won’t affect Barak Valley’s development.” Since the time he took over as the PWD minister, condition of the roads in Barak Valley has improved like never before. The entire province now fears that because of his departure from the department, development in Barak would take a serious beating. He squashed the possibility and said, “PWD department is in the right hands. Himanta Biswa Sarma is a great leader and a heavyweight politician, and development of entire Assam including Barak Valley is Chief Minister Sonowal’s first priority. People of Barak Valley need not worry; now additional chief engineer’s office is also at Silchar.”

The Minister in his first visit to Barak Valley after the change of portfolio also shed light on the construction work in process. He said the construction work of the new Sadarghat Bridge would be completed by December 2018. He also mentioned that two new bridges would be built over river Barak in the valley- one connecting Badarpur to Katigorah and the other is yet to be finalised, “All the important bills have been passed and work has started. Now contractors don’t need to chase files; there is no corruption in the department. Not a single person can allege that they have paid the department to get their work done,” added Suklabaidya with pride.

The quarry business comes under his new portfolio, and that is touted as a corruption hit segment. The minister said he wouldn’t tolerate any wrongdoings there. “Corruption was there in PWD too; you have seen what has happened in last two years; same will happen in Environment and Forest Department too,” he said.

One of his biggest challenges as the Environment and Forest Minister of the state would be to curtail the growing act of animal poaching. “It’s not easy; even today a Rhino was killed. I met the district commissioner and SP, and shared my views with them; we are making a plan. See Rhinos are not killed with chopper any more, miscreants use modern tactics and high-end arms, and they even use AK 47 or 303 (three not three- a type of rifle). We will soon have drones patrolling the areas and we too will devote in coming up with modern tactics to stop this criminal act. But it’s going to be a big challenge,” said Suklabaidya.

He is the only minister from Barak Valley and many in Barak felt it’s injustice; the local sentiment even accused Sarba-Government of sidelining Barak Valley and Bengali community. “Ministry expansion is chief minister’s prerogative and we all party workers as well as politicians must accept it whole heartedly. Yes, even I have heard these arguments a lot. There is a process that the chief minister has followed, and I request the people of Barak Valley not to read between the lines and speculate too much. There is no act of partiality,” Suklabaidya assured.

His portfolio also includes the Excise and Fishery Department, “Since the time I took over, the revenue of the department has grown from Rs 399 crore to 1700 crore, and by the end of FY 2018 (April 2018 to March 2019), my estimate is that the revenue will grow to Rs 2500 crore. This is what happens when you say no to corruption,” he concluded.